I have noticed this problem since the recent change in the way the contribution center works. I had accidentally closed out the Firefox window from when I created the item and started uploading via FTP. I then went to Contribution Center like I had done many times under the old system but it did not show it as an outstanding task so that I could click on it there and get the check-in link as I had in the past. Fortunately I saw datgirl's thread below and was able to take the link she posted for checking in her item and modify it with my shows identifier (http://www.archive.org/checkin/pgroove2009-08-06.flac16) and only after that was I able to actually check it in.

If it helps to look at the problem while I am having it, I created a new item for The Bridge 8-8-09 (bridge2009-08-08.flac16) the same way I have been doing for years and currently have it uploading to items-uploads.archive.org via ftp, yet the contribution center shows:

The reason this happens is because the checkout/checkin tasks have been obsoleted and no longer are part of the item history. So until you do the initial metadata edit, there are no tasks that will appear in the Contribution Center.

Also, please keep in mind that items-uploads is now the only server handling FTP for the entire archive, and as such may be prone to heavy traffic. They're strongly urging a move to the HTTP uploader unless there's a compelling reason to use FTP, especially since the "checkout" process via FTP no longer exists - you get one shot at uploading via FTP and then all edits must be made via HTTP anyway.